(Fano 1720–1806)
Ham on a Plate, Bread, Fruit, an Extinguished Candle and Earthenware Jug;
Salami on a Plate, Wine, an Orange and Earthenware Vessel on a white Tablecloth,
oil on canvas, each 48 x 64 cm, framed (2)

The present work demonstrates Carlo Magini’s characteristic style of painting still lifes depicting apparently randomly arranged, ordinary, simple kitchen utensils and food. Magini’s oeuvre was first subjected to comprehensive analysis by Roberto Longhi and Zauli Naldi in the 1950s (see R. Longhi, L. Zauli, Carlo Magini, pittore di nature morte del sec. XVIII, in: Paragone, 1954, book 5). Since then the artist has counted amongst the most important, leading Italian still life painters of the 18th century. Together with his Spanish contemporary, Luis Meléndez, he raised the depiction of simple kitchen utensils and food to a level previously achieved by only few artists.

In all his works the artist places the objects and foods cleverly and carefully in relation to each other, equally accentuating the diversity of the surfaces and textures, and the play of light on the different articles. As in the present painting, in Magini’s works the light is frequently sufficiently clear and bright to define the individual objects distinctly, yet avoids being too intense, ensuring that none of their three-dimensional quality is lost.

Many elements in the present still life also appear in other works by Magini, leading us to assume that the artist kept certain articles in his studio, rearranging and reordering them in a variety of combinations for his compositions.

His repertoire of objects was not particularly extensive, but by combining them he had at his disposal an almost limitless number of possible compositions. Magini was born in Fano and travelled throughout the whole of Italy during the course of his artistic career; stays in Perugia, Rome, Bologna, Venice, Florence, Pesaro and Urbino are documented. His works are held today by collections in cities including Forli, Bergamo, Faenza and Munich.